


A Little Honesty Goes a Long Way

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: XOXO Droplets (Video Game)
Genre: Blushing, Cute, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Nervousness, Shyness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 10:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30053916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: Jeremy wonders why Everett is even dating him when he can't even get up the nerve to ask for a kiss.
Relationships: Everett Gray/Jeremy King, Jeremy King & Main Character | JB
Kudos: 2





	A Little Honesty Goes a Long Way

"You've clearly come to the right person here, Jeremy," JB says wisely, nodding her head. She holds a pencil and a notebook in her hand, and if not for who she is as a person in general, Jeremy might have really thought that she intended on helping.

As it is, he really only came here because she was his best option. Really, between her or Nate, she'd be most likely to be willing to assist.

"Right, well..." Jeremy shifts uncomfortably. "I was wondering. Um. What should I do if I want to kiss Everett?"

"You should kiss him," JB says firmly. "He's your boyfriend, and he's not like, Nate or something, so he'll totally be cool with it. Actually, I'm surprised you're cool with it!"

Jeremy groans. "It's not that simple," he complains. "Every time I try to get up the nerve to do it, or ask to, or something, I panic and stop myself at the last minute." He lets his head fall back with a 'thunk' against the tree trunk behind him. "And then I just feel stupid and worthless and I end up wondering why Everett even wants to date me to begin with."

"Do you really think about that?"

"Mh..."

"Well, maybe we should ask him why he wants to date you."

"I don't think- Wait, 'we'?"

JB turns her head, searching the courtyard. "Yeah, 'cause I just texted him to meet me here so he should be... Ah, there he is! Hey, Eve, get over here!"

With just a glance, Jeremy realizes belatedly that she had been using her notebook to conceal her cellphone. The sly woman. He groans as Everett approaches, a confused eyebrow tilted up. "Uh, hey JB. Babe."

"Don't call me that," Jeremy gives a half-hearted complaint, but Everett only snorts in response.

"What did you need me for, JB?"

"I wanted to know why you're going out with Jeremy," she asks, a bright and innocent smile on her lips. Everett's face goes from confused to flat-out unimpressed at the question.

"You're joking," he says flatly. "Am I really being asked to defend my choices to you?"

JB pretends to think, while Jeremy hides his rapidly-reddening face behind his hands. "...Yes," JB says. "You are. And you're also being asked to defend your choices to Jeremy."

Everett scoffs. "Does he really need me to?"

"Yes, he does."

"Jeremy, do you really need to know why I'm dating you?" Everett asks, and he sounds so put-out by the thought that Jeremy almost denies it.

He lowers his hands enough to reveal his eyes, and simply looks at the grass in front of himself, not saying a word.

After a moment of silence, he hears Everett let out a soft sigh. "Jer," a soft whisper comes from him, and out of the corner of his eye Jeremy sees him shaking his head sadly. "Alright, fine. I'll tell _him_. But not you, JB, because it's not your damn business."

"Okay!"

She's cheery enough, despite being told to go away. Jeremy thinks that he should point out that this means she'll just be spying from a distance, but she's already scampering off, and Everett is sitting down next to him with a soft sigh.

"...So, I think that you might have already known this, but there was a time when I had a crush on Pran, not you."

Jeremy purses his lips and feels something in him ache. "Yeah, I know," he says, a bit more bitterly than he'd have liked to. He understands why, because there had also been a time - before coming to SSB - when he'd liked Pran himself. But he still doesn't like it, doesn't like that there could have been a chance for Pran to be Everett's boyfriend right now instead of him.

He doesn't admit that, though.

"What about it?" he asks instead.

"Well," Everett says slowly, "I realized when you guys said you were friends that you were the reason he'd told me to go away."

Jeremy tenses.

"I'd, uh, insulted you a lot," Everett says, a light chuckle leaving his lips. "I called you a 'clown boy' or something. And I said it right to Pran, too, so..." He shrugged. "Anyway, when I realized that, I thought, 'If I'm nice to Jeremy, maybe Pran will let me hang around him again'. I guess I still kind of liked him at that point, even if I didn't want to admit it. So that's about when I started hanging around you more-"

"Against my will," Jeremy notes, a smile tugging at his lips. He's relaxing now - Everett doesn't know the real cause, doesn't know that Jeremy had been insulting Everett to Pran as well.

"Yeah, sure, against your will," Everett says with a roll of his eyes. "I mean, you did start enjoying it at some point though, right?" He pauses, and for a moment he looks genuinely vulnerable.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be your boyfriend," Jeremy says flatly.

Everett snorts. "Of course," he says. "And, you know, I enjoyed it too. More than I thought I would. You're fun, in some weird way. When you let yourself be fun, or when you don't notice you are."

Jeremy huffs and ducks his head, hiding the pink color spreading over his cheeks. "Right. Of course." He's never heard himself described as 'fun'. Interesting, and weird, and unique, but not fun.

He's not gonna complain, though.

"And I like your sense of humor."

"I wasn't aware I had one."

Everett rolls his eyes and smirks. "Snark and sarcasm count as humor to me."

Jeremy smirks a little, keeping his head down. He knows that by now. As long as his comments aren't directed at Everett, or someone he cares about, Everett finds them to generally range from 'amusing' to 'hilarious'.

Everett sighs and Jeremy feels him shift next to him. "And you know, I'm really glad we're dating. Because it means I get even more chances to make that mopey face of yours seem a little-"

"Less clown-like?"

The interruption is met with a laugh and a shake of the head from Everett. "I was gonna say 'happier', but sure," he says, smirking over at Jeremy. "Anyway, my point is, I might not have liked you much at first, but you don't need to doubt me now. I like you, okay? That's that." He raises one eyebrow. "So are you gonna make me wax poetic about your eyes or something, or are you gonna tell me why you were talking to JB about my reasons for liking you?"

Jeremy lets out a light chuckle of his own at that. "No way would you come up with anything poetic to say about my eyes."

"I'm not the poetic type so you're probably right, but are you willing to risk it?"

Jeremy shakes his head. "Nope. You'd make me sit here until you came up with something."

"You're damn right I would."

"Fiend." Jeremy sighs and lets his head fall back once more. "...I wanna kiss you."

The words are so easy to say that he almost thinks he imagined saying them.

But then Everett sputters next to him, flustered, and he knows he didn't. He turns his head, watching the interesting pink shade spreading over his boyfriend's tanned cheeks.

"You... Ha." Everett clears his throat and pulls off his glasses. It's a nervous tic of his - Jeremy thinks maybe he wears the things just to have something he can fiddle with when he needs to. "I didn't expect that from you."

Jeremy shrugs, a light smirk tugging at his lips. Usually he's the one being flustered, so it's kind of freeing to have it the other way around. Powerful. "Do you not want to?" he asks, managing to make the words seem genuinely curious.

Everett chuckles and shakes his head. "I definitely want to," he says softly. "I just... Didn't know you wanted to, too."

"Mm." Jeremy shifts so that he's facing Everett more properly. "So, now?"

"You know Nate would kill us both if he saw?"

"That's okay. Pran will kill him for killing me."

Everett's grin widens at the comment, and he replaces his glasses. "Fair enough. And I'm guessing no tongue?"

Jeremy's not sure what sort of expression he makes, but whatever it is, it sends Everett into a fit of laughter. "Definitely not," he says, the words stretched out in disgust. He might adore Everett more than he once did, but he still has some limits.

"Right, haha, pfft, of course." Everett shakes his head as he lets out a few more snickers. "What was I thinking?"

"Who knows."

Once Everett stops laughing, he shifts closer. "Well. Wanna know what I'm thinking now?"

Always. "No way."

"Liar." Everett leans in slowly, eyelids lowering. Jeremy's heart jumps. "Close your eyes for me..."

Jeremy swallows thickly and slowly lets his eyes shut. Mere moments later, he feels a slow, soft touch to his lips that his mind registers as being another pair. They're softer than Jeremy had thought they would be - kind of makes sense, he thinks he remembers seeing Everett put on chapstick every now and then.

It's nice. Really, really nice.

Everett pulls away, and Jeremy has to force himself to not pull the other boy back for a second kiss. He opens his eyes, carefully, and sees Everett beaming at him.

"...Can we do that again?"

He's not sure how it's possible, but somehow Everett's smile gets even brighter.


End file.
